


How do people do this?

by ojos_abiertos



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Getting Back Together, M/M, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24064156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ojos_abiertos/pseuds/ojos_abiertos
Summary: After a three years of being together, Iruka and Kakashi break up onky to meet again five weeks later. Through a series of honest, real conversations, we see them trying to figure out what's next.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 23
Kudos: 66





	1. Didn’t you break up with him?

“You smoke now?”

Kakashi, who was leaning on the balcony railing, looked at the door. Iruka was standing there, his figure dark against the colorful lights that came from inside the club, but Kakashi could see a hesitant look in his eyes, as if he was asking for permission to join him. Kakashi smiled lightly and blew smoke in Iruka’s direction, knowing it wouldn’t actually reach him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to mother you,” Iruka apologized as stepped into the balcony. He could still hear the loud music from there, but it was muffled, it sounded distant.

“Mah, it’s alright,” Kakashi said. And he did mean it, although Iruka was still not okay with it. “Only when I go out, yes, I smoke now.”

“Good, good,” the brown haired mumbled. Kakashi raised a brow at him as he smiled playfully. “No, I mean… It’s not good, smoking isn’t good but… whatever, you can do what you want, I don’t really have a say in that…” 

Kakashi smoke some more. “No, you don’t,” he said in a soft tone, “hey, how you been? It’s been five weeks...”

“Great, good... I bought a treadmill, that’s good,” Iruka nodded.

“A treadmill? As in… for exercise?” Kakashi chuckled. 

Iruka laughed too. “Yeah, it occupies half the living room, but I use it!”

“I can’t believe I’ve been replaced by a treadmill,” Kakashi exhaled dramatically. He could picture exactly where the treadmill was, after all it used to be his house too before they broke up.

“Shut up, don’t be an idiot,” Iruka laughed, “it’s practical, I can grade while I run.”

“Ever so effective,” the silver haired laughed as Iruka playfully rolled his eyes.

“And you know what?”

Kakashi took a drag of his cigarette before saying, “shoot.”

“I started cooking classes,” the younger man confessed. Kakashi immediately started laughing again, making the smoke he had just inhale move, so he ended up coughing instead.

“Maa, I can’t believe that, sorry.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“I haven’t seen any fires in your area, it can’t be possible,” Kakashi insisted, a playful tone in his voice.

Iruka bumped his shoulder lightly against Kakashi’s. “ _Dick_. I don’t burn things now, I slightly toast them,” he smiled.

“Serious progress, sensei,” Kakashi laughed.

“It is, it is… I also read the last Icha Icha novel.”

“Oh… really? I… haven’t read it, honestly,” the silver haired replied, flicking his cigarette away.

“What? Why? Don’t you have it?”

“No, no, I have it… It’s just…” Kakashi shrugged and lighted another cigarette, trying to avoid Iruka’s gaze.

“What is it?” Iruka pushed.

“I don’t know, I felt reading it was like betraying you. It was something we did together and… I don’t know, I feel stupid, forget about it.”

“Oh, I feel terrible now.”

“What?” Kakashi laughed, “don’t, it’s okay.”

“Seriously, I…”

“Don’t be dumb, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. Here, I’ll change the subject,” Kakashi interrupted while taping on his cigarette to let the ashes fall. “You won’t believe me, but I went to the beach house.”

Iruka let out a breathy laugh. Kakashi was right, he didn’t believe him; he had asked him to go several times to the Hatake beach house but he never convinced him. “What? No way, you hate the beach!”

“I did. I went three weekends on a row, now I love the beach more than you do,” Kakashi laughed back.

“You have to be kidding me,” Iruka manage to say while still laughing.

“I don’t know, it’s different. The nature, the water… the house has some kayaks, so I’ve been kayaking,” the silver haired replied.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Iruka smiled. 

Standing next to Kakashi, he could see that the older man was also smiling, but his look was set on the horizon, distant. Silence stirred between them, carrying things that wanted to be said.

“Yeah, I don’t know. The time that passed makes you think, you know?” Kakashi broke the silence.

“It sure does.”

“And I thought that I never took you to the beach, it was… selfish, maybe. In retrospective, I should’ve payed more attention to the things you liked, and tried to like them too… I don’t know what has been on your mind but-”

“No, I get it, I am listening,” Iruka interrupted, “I just, sorry, this has nothing to do with what you’ve just said but can I ask something?”

“Please,” the silver haired replied, glad to change the subject.

“Has Gai asked you about me?”

Kakashi let out a breathy laugh. “Gai? I mean, he didn’t directly ask me about you, but he asked how I was doing and, you know… that includes you. I thought you didn’t like him.”

“What? No, I… I thought he didn’t like me,” Iruka also laughed. Everyone says that the relationship with your partner’s parents is the trickiest one, you almost never are liked by them or like them back but everyone has to pretend that they do. Kakashi didn’t have any parents, but Gai was as close as it got to it and Iruka always felt that the man was keeping an eye on him.

“You were always insecure about that! He’s Gai, he likes everyone.”

“Yeah, I kinda miss his energy.”

Kakashi laughed at him. “Wow, if you miss Gai, I can’t imagine how much you must me missing me.”

“Get out of here,” Iruka laughed and bumped his shoulder again. “And… were you with someone this past month?”

“Maa, do you really want to know? Heads up, I don’t,” Kakashi warned him.

“Umm… no, you are right. Stupid question… I just, it’s good to see you, that’s all,” the younger man mumbled.

“It is,” Kakashi smiled, “I miss you. A lot. But I don’t know, you look great, seems that our time apart did you good.”

Iruka blushed a little, and smiled sheepishly. “It did you some good too.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. Distancing ourselves… I mean, we were in different places already and we had to deal with it. This distance can give us another perspective, we can grow from there. I don’t mean as a couple… we aren’t a couple anymore, but from a personal… You always let me talk for too long, I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore,” Kakashi complained.

“No, keep going, I’m listening,” Iruka smiled.

“I just want you to be alright, Iruka. That’s the only thing I ever wanted, you know? For you to be alright, to be happy.” 

# ___

“It was actually great,” Iruka answered Izumo’s question over lunch three days after his encounter with Kakashi.

“Great?”

“Great,” Iruka nodded dreamily, “it seems that he’s doing well, I don’t know if I forgot how hot he was or if he has always been that fine. And the conversation was better, we laughed so much… I lost track of time, suddenly the sun was rising and the club was almost empty.”

“Didn’t you break up with him?”

Iruka took a few seconds to answer. “No, we were… I mean, yes. I guess I was the one who made the decision.”

Izumo was paying so much attention his ears felt bigger. “What does this mean then?”

“We didn’t kiss if that’s what you are asking. I don’t know what he thinks about this, but I can’t wait to find out.”

“You would definitely kiss him,” Izumo accused him with a smirk on his face. 

Iruka just laughed. “I don’t know! Maybe! Yes?”

“Then call him,” his friend said, as if it was the simplest solution ever.

“I made the first move that night, isn’t it his turn?”

Izumo rolled his eyes. “You broke up with him, Iruka, he’s probably not wanting to bother you.”

“Okay, you are probably right. Maybe I will call him, I am not sure.”

# ___

When Kakashi picked up, Iruka’s whole body relaxed. “Hi, Kakashi?”

“Iruka,” his husky voice answered.

“Are you busy?”

“No, no, you surprised me, that’s all. How are you?” Kakashi replied.

“Good, I… it’s been three days and I didn’t hear from you and… the reunion was nice, I don’t know what you think but-”

“No, it was. Of course it was,” the silver haired interrupted and Iruka let a smile slip through his lips.

“Oh, okay. It’s just that I thought that we…”

“That I should’ve called,” Kakashi completed.

“Maybe? Not if you didn’t want to,” Iruka quickly answered.

“I did. I do. But I didn’t want to bother you, invade you. You know it was an amazing reunion, we can repeat it whenever you want,” the other man replied.

“Then let’s do it.”

Iruka heard Kakashi laugh lightly through the phone. It was a great laugh, even if he wasn’t there. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you want to do.”

“As in today? A bar?” the brown haired asked.

“Yeah, a bar. Or, I don’t know, we can go watch a movie or…”

“Oh, raising the stakes, I see,” Iruka playfully intervened.

Kakashi laughed again. “Maa, raising the stakes would be something bigger.”

“Go big or go home?” It was Iruka’s time to laugh then.

“Do you want to go big? Because I can.”

“What do you have in mind?” 

“Okay, raising the stakes would be… Inviting you to the Hatake beach house.”

Iruka’s heart stopped. At least it felt like that, but he knew that wasn’t possible. If his heart stopped, he would be dead, and he felt more alive than ever. “ _What?_ ”

“Would you like to go to the beach, Iruka?”

“You have to be kidding me,” was all he could muster. The voice on the other side of the phone had to be crazy.

Kakashi laughed, not because he was crazy but because he could almost see Iruka standing with his phone in one hand and a completely shocked face. “No! Why are you saying that? It’s Friday, we can leave after work.”

“But you never wanted to go!”

“No, but because my aunt and uncle and my parents got divorced in that house and I think it’s haunted. Every couple breaks up there and then dies. But, we are healthy and not a couple, right?”

“Right… we aren’t.”

“Then…?” Kakashi prompted.

“Oh, God,” Iruka breathed out.

“Hey, don’t freak out. Do you have something to do this weekend?”

“I, no… Fine, let’s do this!” Iruka exclaimed.

“Great! I’ll pick you up at six.”


	2. Aren't we going to get confused?

“Yo,” Kakashi greeted when he saw Iruka. The silver haired was leaning on his car, wearing black jeans, a loose white t-shirt and aviator sunglasses. Iruka couldn’t help his smile as he approached, carrying his suitcase wondering if Kakashi wasn’t cold. Summer had ended about a week ago and although the warmth lingered for a bit longer, that day was a little colder. Not that Iruka would complain since this way, he could see Kakashi’s arms and he used to love Kakashi’s arms.

“Hey,” Iruka replied.

“You brought all the luggage in the world,” Kakashi joked.

“Give me a break,” Iruka laughed.

“But it’s a suitcase to go to Europe for five months.”

“I brought things, fun stuff,” the brown haired smiled.

“Fun stuff?” Kakashi all but chuckled, “that sounds weird and nice at the same time.”

“Okay, a friends trip then?” Iruka changed the subject with a light blush on his cheeks.

“Exactly, a friends trip. A trip of two people that cherish each other…”

“Cherish,” Iruka nodded.

“Respect each other…”

“Respect,” Iruka nodded again, “and, for example, can I flirt with some other man?”

Kakashi smiled almost imperceptibly. “Well, it’d be a pity that in a two day trip of two people that haven’t seen each other for a long time, an event with a third party happens. But, of course you are free to do whatever you please.”

“Oh, okay, with certain restrictions then,” Iruka smiled.

The silver haired smirked and looked at him from head to toe, taking advantage of the shades covering his eyes. Iruka was wearing distressed jeans and a classic crew neck light gray sweatshirt, with his medium length brown hair free of its usual tie under a loose, light pink beanie.

“Is that the beanie I gifted you?” 

“Maybe, stop staring,” Iruka replied, the blush on his face matching his beanie.

“Why? You look beautiful,” Kakashi said. The blush on Iruka’s face deepened, and Kakashi’s smirk got bigger.

“Nonsense, are we ready to go?”

“Yeah, let me help you with that,” the silver haired replied and picked Iruka’s suitcase up. “Oh my God, it’s so heavy!” he joked.

The brown haired rolled his eyes with a smile. “You’re an idiot, did you know that?”

# \---

“If you are hungry, open the glove compartment,” Kakashi said once they entered the highway, “there are fries and chocolate.”

“Thank you, what a great service,” Iruka laughed as he opened it.

“Give me a break,” Kakashi replied, imitating the brown haired as a joke, although he did seem a little embarrassed. Iruka laughed some more at that.

“No, I’m serious. Thank you,” Iruka said without laughing but with a small kind smile as he opened the chips.

“Okay, you are welcome.”

“You are blushing,” Iruka commented with a playful tone.

“No, I’m not” -he definitely was – “come on, keep talking,” Kakashi said, trying to change the subject.

“Talking? But I wasn’t saying anything! You blather when you are nervous,” Iruka’s laugh returned, he couldn’t help himself. “Ah, I really do know you, Kakashi.”

“Maybe too much,” he agreed.

“I can’t believe this is the first time you’re taking someone to the beach house,” the younger man changed the subject and offered Kakashi some chips.

The silver haired took some and answered before eating them. “It’s not the first time.”

“But how? Didn’t you say that you never even went alone?”

“No, I never said that,” Kakashi replied with his usual bored tone. He was looking at the road, shades still on, while Iruka’s body was facing him.

Iruka’s brows were trying to decide whether they should raise or furrow, but his playful expression wasn't gone. “I don’t understand.”

“I went to the beach house a few years back, but not alone,” the older man offered.

“Come on, be a little more generous with the story,” Iruka pushed, his curiosity reaching its peak. 

A breathy laugh escaped Kakashi. “It went like this: I was dating a guy named Fū, right?”

“Wow, wow, wow, an anecdote has popped up. We have a name: Fū,” Iruka interrupted, with his presenter voice filled with amusement.

“We were kinda boyfriends,” Kakashi continued after a laugh.

“Kinda boyfriends,” Iruka repeated.

“Yeah, kinda, I don’t know. And we had never traveled anywhere together.”

“Until one day…”

“Until one day, we made a trip to the beach house. You know, beach, sun, surfing… Romantic right?” Kakashi went on with the story.

“Right.”

“And as soon as we came back, we basically broke up,” Kakashi finished.

“Ahh, now I get the ‘break up in the beach house’ theory,” Iruka smiled.

“Yeah.”

“But wait, explain one thing to me. Was the trip really that bad or were you already fighting?” Iruka inquired deeper.

“No, we were… great, awesome. Like, _‘I love you’, ‘love you more’, ‘babe’, ‘honey’_ and that stuff, but the moment we stepped out of the car, we broke up. Right there, on that second. We went on our separate ways and we never saw each other again,” Kakashi explained.

“You have to be kidding me,” Iruka gasped.

“Yes, of course I am, Iruka,” Kakashi laughed out loud, “we were going downhill; in fact, the trip was to make up but well, didn’t work.”

“Please, you are an idiot,” the brown haired laughed too as he shook his head. “You never mentioned Fū like… ever.”

“No, because… I don’t know. This is the part where I regret telling you the anecdote, is it?”

“No, no, tell me! Did you date for a long time?” Iruka replied, wanting to know more.

“Ummm… yeah, I suppose, like… eleven months? Maybe a year. Well, that’s a lot for me,” Kakashi answered, “it’s weird, right? How we forget about past relationships that, in their time, were basically everything.”

“And a little bit sad, isn’t it? I mean, so much intensity, so much love, a whole internal code between a couple that you can’t figure out where they went,” Iruka replied. “But it’s like past lives. As if I was another person then.”

Kakashi nodded. “Yes, they are like past lives, versions of ourselves that stayed behind in time. And, at the same time, they are people for whom you should be available in case they have any problems.”

“Available?”

“Yeah, imagine you had a boyfriend a long time ago and you know, in theory, that he is a good person; even if things didn’t work out between you two, that person still exists, shit still happens to them. And, to some degree, you wish them good, don’t you?” Kakashi put his thoughts into words.

“Sure, of course. If he treated me well, I wish him well; if not, I don’t,” Iruka agreed.

“Okay, sure. And maybe this person call you and needs you for something. You could help him.”

“Well... I don’t know, because that’s more complex than the residual affection you have for a person. One thing is that affection and whatnot, and another is an ex calling you out of nowhere; but, apart from it being a little out of place, imagine you get that call after a few years… I don’t know, shouldn’t he figure it out with his people?” Iruka wondered.

“Yeah, no. I mean, I get your point. But I always, at least I do it, right? Every time I ended a relationship, I told the other person that they could count on me, and I believe in that,” Kakashi said.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful, but it’s also complex,” Iruka agreed, looking at Kakashi and the way he held the steering wheel.

Kakashi took his eyes off the road for a second to look at him. “You are thinking about something in particular.”

Iruka frowned slightly and shook his head. “No, no.”

“Or, I don’t know, in someone?”

“No, I swear I am not.”

“Well, you are staring,” Kakashi smiled.

“It’s just… I don’t know, I wouldn’t like-”

“What? Staring at me?” the silver haired joked.

“No, I wouldn’t like you to, one day, finally say that I can count on you. I mean, I would prefer hearing it every day,” Iruka said.

Kakashi met his eyes once more and smiled lightly. “You are very beautiful, did you know that?”

Iruka could just laugh. “Uh, yes, I knew. I also know that this is a friends trip so, before you keep this up, we could eat the rest of these ships.”

# \---

“Oh, God, this is even more beautiful than what you described!” Iruka exclaimed as soon as he got out of the car and got a full view of the house.

The stunning oceanfront house, which was only a few steps away from the beach, was light blue with French doors and wide windows. A picnic table and three beach chairs rested on the deck. Every bit felt like a beach dream, Iruka could picture even living in a huge house like that forever, not just in the summer.

“Wait till you see the inside,” Kakashi replied as he opened the front door.

Iruka followed him inside only to realize that Kakashi was right. If the outside was perfect, he couldn’t even begin to describe the inside. It was an open-style house, from the front door you could see the living room area, the kitchen and the dinning room, everything furnished in a Nantucket style -the closest thing to chic nautical. Somehow, whowever designed the decorations, managed to masterfully blend an elegant interior with a casual beach lifestyle.

It was the kind of house were beautiful, almost too perfect memories were made.

“Kakashi, this is just… stunning,” Iruka praised.

“It is, isn’t it?” the silver haired nodded. 

“Damn right. And the view of the sea is just perfect.”

Kakashi smiled at the sight of Iruka taking in the said perfect view, he knew Iruka would love this house. “Yeah, I never thought this house was that beautiful until I came back a few weeks ago. Do you know how old this house is? Hell, I don’t even know, but it’s really old. I don’t know how it stays this modern…”

Iruka turned around and faced him with a huge smile. “Is this the part where you blather because you are nervous?” 

“Correct,” he smiled shyly. 

“I do know you, then.”

Kakashi nodded slowly. “I asked my neighbor to prep two of the bigger rooms and grab some groceries. He was honestly wat too excited about it, I think he misses the house been lived in.”

“Oh, you have thought about everything.”

“Maybe,” the silver haired chuckled.

“Everything but one thing,” Iruka replied.

“What? What did I miss?”

“You said _two_ of the rooms,” the brown haired explained and got a little closer.

“Well, yes, it’s a trip for friends,” Kakashi smiled.

“Mhm, okay. Friends that can, circumstantially, become more friendly at night, can’t they?”

“Circumstantially, right?”

“And one of them says to the other, in the dark, ‘can I sleep in your bed?’” Iruka replies, now invading the other man’s personal space.

“And he answers, ‘aren’t we going to get confused? Our friendship is so beautiful’,” Kakashi played along, voice sweet and ironic, as his hand found its way to Iruka’s cheek.

Iruka leaned on the silver haired man’s hand. “And he says, ‘let’s get a little confused, if anything happens, we can get unconfused later, don’t you think?’”

“And… wait,” Kakashi laughed, breaking character, “I mean, I don’t know who is talking anymore, there are like four characters, us both, and them two...”

“Suddenly, it was an orgy,” Iruka laughed too.

“No, wait, wait,” Kakashi replied also laughing, “let’s start smaller.”

Iruka smiled sweetly at him and placed a hand on his arm. “Come on, give me a kiss.”

How could Kakashi do anything but obey? He leaned in, still cupping Iruka’s cheek on one hand, and kissed him as sweetly as Iruka’s smile. And oh, they both had been missing that warmth that spread between them and they knew it was more than residual affection.

“I was thinking that we could have dinner at this place that I’ve been told is very nice. If you want, we could eat and then walk around the historic center,” Kakashi suggested when the kiss was broken. 

“Maybe we could start by putting our luggage in the same room, the historic center isn’t going to move and we don’t stress about it,” Iruka proposed, placing his hands around Kakashi’s waist.

“I like the change of schedule,” Kakashi smiled. “I am going to kiss you again, okay? But, hey... as friends.”

“Yes, of course, are we anything else?”


	3. How do people recover from a breakup?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi goes back to the house where he and Iruka lived together for over a year to spend the night together.

“It was great, Gai. I asked him if he wanted to go to the beach house and a minute later we were there, and it was amazing. The sex was amazing,” Kakashi told his friend.

They were at a bohemian bar Gai loved, sitting outside on colorful and mismatched stools with bare lightbulbs hanging over their heads. And after two pints of beer, Kakashi was relaxed enough to talk about Iruka.

“I can’t believe you were so spontaneous,” Gai commented.

“I know, right?” Kakashi said, his tone loud and his smile, big; “but he used to fight a lot over that, over where to go if we went out at all. So, I just thought, fuck it, you know? Let’s go big, why not?”

“Ah! Your love is going through a new springtime!” Gai exclaimed loudly, swinging his beer.

“Yeah, I don’t know, I felt that everything worked out, and it was real fun. We laughed a lot, like when we first met. Everything went… excellent, really. But it’s been what? Three days? And he hasn’t texted me or anything,” the silver haired said and drank some more beer. “I don’t want to mess this up, you know? But I don’t really get this dynamic. The trip was spectacular, it really was.”

“But you haven’t talked about how you continue…” Gai began. 

“Exactly, we haven’t talked about what’s next. The two times we met… there weren’t any rules… I don’t know, maybe not having rules is okay, right? I mean… Sorry, you are not my therapist,” Kakashi laughed as he apologized.

“No, I am your dearest friend and rival! You don’t have to apologize, I love hearing how your heart grows bigger and fills with youthful love!” Gai assured him.

“Thanks, man. A little corny-”

“But true,” Gai interrupted, “listen, Kakashi, you should call him.”

“What? No,” Kakashi laughed.

“All I’m hearing is that it was a brilliant trip, so why not? Besides, there are no rules.”

Kakashi looked at him, then at his beer. “Alright, yes, I’ll call him.”

# \---

“Hello!” Iruka exclaimed when he picked up the phone.

“Iruka,” Kakashi replied with a smile.

“It’s really nice to listen to your voice, how you been? It’s been a while since he last spoke, isn’t it?” the brown haired asked.

“Yeah, I believe it’s been four days. In fact, I was just wondering…” Kakashi started.

“What?”

“Nothing, I was just wondering how you were and if you had a good time.”

“Good, because I was wondering the exact same thing,” Iruka replied and Kakashi then noticed that his voice was a little nasal, as if he had woken up recently or was sick.

“Hey, were you sleeping? Your voice is a little… zombie like,” Kakashi chuckled.

“I’m happy, that’s it. I didn’t know whether to call, or text…”

“I am glad I did, then,” the older man smiled, hoping it would show in his voice somehow.

“I was actually thinking that it was stupid of you to pay for the whole thing, I think it’s important that I pay half of it.”

“No, no way! Next time, for sure; besides, I didn’t even payed a hotel, the house is mine, you know?” Kakashi laughed.

“But all the food, and t-” Iruka tried to insist.

“Iruka, forget about it.”

“Fine,” the brown haired sighed, “so when is that next time?”

“What?”

“You said next time, how about tonight?”

Kakashi laughed at that. “You don’t have to pay your debt so quickly either.”

“No, well, forget about the debt, I was thinking about something that doesn’t involve much expenses, it’s a bit drastic… But since everything we are doing is a bit drastic…” Iruka rambled. 

“Should I be afraid?”

“Yeah, maybe, I am a little afraid too… or nervous. Okay, do you want to sleep over today?” Iruka finally blurted out.

Silence took over. Iruka wished he could see Kakashi so bad he was gripping his phone.

“Um…” Kakashi finally muttered.

“Oh, no, if it upsets you, don’t-”

“No, no. Um… You mean your house, the one that used to be _our_ house,” Kakashi interrupted him.

“Mhm,” Iruka confirmed.

“Um… yeeees?”

“Oh, no, it thought it would be fun.”

“No; I mean, yes. Don’t get me wrong, I really want to see you.”

“But not at my house,” Iruka replied.

“Yeah… I just, I don’t know if it’s the place, don’t you think?” Kakashi answered hesitantly.

“What is it? Tell me how you feel about it,” Iruka asked.

“I mean… It’s a bit drastic, yes. You know I haven’t been there for a long while.”

“But now I have a treadmill~” Iruka sang.

“Yeah, not a minor detail,” Kakashi tried to laugh.

“Oh, I did upset you,” Iruka saw through it.

“No! I swear,” Kakashi exclaimed, a little more convincingly this time. He then sighed. “Okay, fine, yes, I’ll see you there tonight.” 

“Kakashi, wait, don’t feel pressured. Let’s do another thing-”

“No, really. If I didn’t want to, I would say it, I promise,” Kakashi interrupted to reassure him.

“Okay, okay. See you tonight, then?” Iruka replied.

“See you tonight.”

# \---

When the door opened and Kakashi saw Iruka’s face, all the nervous blather on his head stopped.

“Good evening,” Kakashi greeted.

“Welcome!” Iruka said with a beaming smile. 

“I brought this wine, the one you like,” the older man said, offering Iruka the bottle.

“Oh, great! I’ll open it,” Iruka replied.

“The music sounds beautiful,” Kakashi commented when he stepped into the small house, from which’s entrance hall, he could hear the soft music that came from the living room.

“You are beautiful,” the other man flirted.

Kakashi chuckled and shook his head in response. “Did you cook?”

“No, I called that sushi delivery we used to like, why?” Iruka replied with a frown and walked into the living room. The other man followed.

“Well, since you started those cooking classes…”

“What? I am supposed to cook every meal now? Should I be embarrassed for not cooking for you?” Iruka replied, the frown not gone from his face.

“No, of course not! You are right, I am sorry. I mean, I implied something shitty, broke the mood or whatever-”

“Wait, I am the one who’s sorry, I am nervous too,” Iruka interrupted.

“Can I leave and come in again? We can start over and forget this happened,” Kakashi asked.

Iruka let out a small laugh. “There’s really no need… okay, okay, if you want to,” he ended up giving in to Kakashi’s request because his puppy eyes were about to kill him.

“I want to.”

They walked to the door and Kakashi left. When Iruka closed the door behind him, he rang the bell for a second time and, not for the second time but a lot more, he felt relaxed when he saw Iruka’s face again.

“Good evening,” Kakashi greeted once again.

“Welcome!” Iruka replied with the same tone as before.

“I brought this wine, I remembered you like it.”

“I’ll open it right away,” Iruka smiled, clearly amused by the situation.

“The music sounds beautiful,” Kakashi commented when he entered the house.

“You _look_ beautiful.” 

Kakashi followed Iruka into the living and dining room and asked again, “did you cook?”

“No, I called a sushi delivery, why?” Iruka answered, a smile that threatened to show his teeth plastered on his face.

“That’s great! I love this plan!” Kakashi exclaimed, jokingly over enthusiastically.

Iruka bumped the silver haired man’s shoulder as he finally let out the laugh he was trying to muffle. 

“You are an idiot. And? Is it weird to be in this house?”

Kakashi looked around. The house was almost the same as he remembered it. Standing in the living room, he could see the dining table and the arch that lead to the kitchen. “The thing that’s catching my eye is the insane size of that treadmill." 

“Oh God, I told you it was big,” Iruka laughed.

“No, but, really, it occupies half of the space. Buy a few dumbbells and you got yourself a gym, Iruka,” Kakashi commented.

“Shut up,” the brown haired replied still laughing.

“Okay, let’s see, there are a few changes… Was that here before? This sofa?” the older man asked walking over a burgundy loveseat, “or it’s more colorful, did you wash it?”

“Mmm, I think you are imagining things,” Iruka replied and went into the kitchen to open the wine.

“No, but there were a few stains over here, from that time that I spilled some noodles, do you remember?”

“No, I just flipped the cushions,” the brown haired replied from the kitchen.

Kakashi laughed a little, embarrassed. “Right, I should’ve figured… And there?”

“Where?” Iruka asked as he rejoined Kakashi with two glasses of wine on his hands.

“Upstairs… can I take a look?”

“Yes,” Iruka chuckled, “are you seriously asking? Of course you can!”

“Okay, let’s see…”

Kakashi went up to the second floor, where there were two rooms and a bathroom, while Iruka waited at the bottom of the stairs.

“Oh, you didn’t change the bedside tables!” Kakashi yelled a little so the other could hear him. The house wasn’t big, so he knew Iruka could hear him perfectly.

“What? No, I didn’t,” Iruka said with a frown and a smile, “are you feeling weird?”

“I mean, yes, it’s really weird to go to a place you know so well and yet feel… I don’t know, like you are seeing it in a movie for the first time… alien, as if was fiction. You are used to seeing this every day,” Kakashi explained as he took in the details of the bedroom from its door, so Iruka could still hear him.

“Yeah, it’s also strange to see you here, after all this time… In a way, you never left,” the brown haired replied.

“How come?”

“I mean, you don’t actually have to be here to… _be here_.”

“Oh, you are getting mystical,” Kakashi joked.

Iruka laughed. “No, no, come down a bit,” he asked and moved to the living room, sitting on the loveseat he didn’t replace, and the silver haired was standing in front of him within seconds. “You know what I mean,” he continued then, “It’s sad to be lonely where you were once accompanied.”

“Oh, ‘Ruka, don’t be upset about it,” Kakashi said, crouching down and placing a hand on the side of the younger man’s arm.

“No, it’s okay…” Iruka sniffed.

“But you are starting to cry, ‘Ruka.”

And Kakashi wasn’t wrong, a few tears escaped Iruka’s eyes and he was sniffing a bit every few seconds. 

“And what’s wrong with it?” Iruka asked, his voice a little nasal as he talked, and wiped some tears away.

“No, I don’t know, nothing.”

“So…”

“I just don’t want you to suffer,” Kakashi explained. Iruka could read his expression as clear as day. Furrowed brows, lower lip bit and eyes set on Iruka, trying to read him instead.

“I am not suffering. On the contrary, I am happy. I told you that over the phone this afternoon,” Iruka tried to comfort him, gifting him a smile, although his eyes were still watery and tears wouldn’t stop falling.

“How do people do this? How do people recover from a breakup?”

Iruka snorted. “Are you really asking me? I have no idea.” After all, he was the one sitting there, crying.

“No, me neither, that’s why I’m asking,” Kakashi said, with his eyes still full of concern.

“I guess it’s natural, sometimes you don’t have another choice.”

“And you play it like nothing’s happening, and you go on with your life, going to work, talking with friends, trying to survive from yourself…”

“Or, I don’t know, you assume you are sad and you work with it,” Iruka said as he wiped away some tears from his face.

“You always were smarter than me,” Kakashi smiled. That seemed to make Iruka cry harder. “No, come on, ‘Ruka, seriously. I don’t like to see you cry,” the silver haired pleaded as he rubbed Iruka’s arm.

“It’s alright, really,” the brown haired replied as he calmed down.

“Okay, can I least bring you a glass of water?”

“Fine, but wait… Sit here, besides me.”

“Sure, of course, what is it?” Kakashi asked as he sat on the loveseat too.

Iruka rubbed his face, and managed to stop the tears to keep flowing off his eyes. “I just want to say one thing: let’s talk about whatever you want, let’s fight about us, about the delivery, about whatever… But you have to promise me that, whatever happens, you’ll sleep here tonight.”

“Why are you saying this?”

Iruka smiled softly. “You know why. I mean, sometimes we start talking and you get upset or angry about something, and then you leave and… I know how it is to be alone in that situation,” he said and he couldn’t help the tears from falling again, “I swear that I am not up to that tonight.”

“I understand, but that’s not happening now,” Kakashi replied, holding Iruka’s hands on his.

“No, I know.”

“I really do understand what you are saying, though. It’s something I do, or did a lot… You’re right, but it’s not a good thing to do so okay, it’s a promise,” the older man gave his word.

“Shall we toast to that?” Iruka wondered.

“Sure, but let me kiss you first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope everyone is doing okay. If you want to comment how you are liking the story so far, I'll be more than glad to read you! Anyways, thank you for reading, see you next chapter <3


	4. While you chop onions?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Between laughs and cooking, Kakashi and Iruka analyze their micro coexistence.

“What time is it?” Iruka asked against Kakashi’s chest, where his head was resting.

“Ummm, wait, let me check,” the silver haired said. He stretched to grab his phone, which was on the bedside table, careful not to disturb Iruka that much. “Ten past seven,” he then replied with the time.

“Ten past seven? Are you kidding me?”

“What is it?” Kakashi asked, tracing patterns on the brown haired man’s arm with the tips his fingers.

“Sunday at ten past seven is the most depressive time of the week,” Iruka explained with a smile.

“Maybe, but you don’t sound depressed. I mean, you have a smile rather… I don’t know, different,” Kakashi said. “Wait, sorry, are you saying that I overstayed my welcome?”

“No, not at all."

“Then?”

“Long weekend but it flew by,” Iruka replied.

Kakashi chuckled. “In bed.”

“We didn’t even turn the tv on…”

“Or your new treadmill.”

“True,” Iruka said with a breathy laugh. “It’s weird but, at the same time feels really natural, doesn’t it?”

“Well, we know each other a little,” Kakashi replied.

“A little, yes…” Iruka trailed off. “I am hungry, I’ll cook something, does that sound good?” he asked a few seconds later as he sat on the bed.

“What?”

“What I said, I’ll cook something.”

“Since when do you cook?” Kakashi asked, trying to prevent his laughter from emerging.

“Well, I’m not Gordon Ramsay but I can put a meal together. Cooking classes, remember? I think I have some tomatoes and onions…I can chop some onions, maybe make some pasta…” Iruka thought out loud but was cut off by Kakashi’s laugh.

“Chop a few onions?!” the older man exclaimed and laughed as if it was the funniest thing Iruka has ever said, “I am going to pass out from excitement! Yeah, sure, pasta sounds great.”

“You are mean, did you know that?” Iruka tried to play angry as he put some clothes on, but the smile on his face gave him away.

“Come here,” Kakashi replied and Iruka got closer and leaned so the silver haired could kiss him lightly. “Okay, I have to go to the bathroom.”

“I’ll be chopping onions,” Iruka replied with an amused tone.

After watching Iruka leave to the kitchen, Kakashi got up and headed to the bathroom. Iruka did have tomatoes and onions, with some thyme and garlic he could make a decent sauce to go with the pasta.

He had just started with the seemingly hilarious task of chopping the onions when he heard Kakashi yell something from the bathroom upstairs.

“Iruka! I have to say something!” Kakashi yelled.

“Yeah, what?!” Iruka yelled back.

“Wait, I am coming out of the bathroom because we need to talk face to face!” the older man replied and five seconds later, he was joining Iruka in the kitchen.

“What is it?”

“Is it necessary to throw the towel on the floor? I mean, it’s a towel that can no longer be used!” Kakashi complained.

“Why couldn’t we use it again?” Iruka asked.

“Because it’s on the floor, that is really wet and-”

“But, Kakashi, it isn’t on a club’s floor wet with pee, it’s on _my_ floor,” Iruka interrupted, slightly amused and when Kakashi couldn't hold back a small laugh, he had to laugh too. “The floor was wet and I didn’t want to step on it, so I threw the towel,” the brown haired then explained.

“Amazing argument, moving strategy, but couldn’t you grab a smaller one if that was the case?”

“Okay, you’re right, I got it… Well, now that we are… analyzing our micro coexistence…”

“Oh, so now this is turning back on me,” Kakashi smiled and crossed his arms.

“Easy, it’s just an observation if I may,” Iruka said with a smile that let Kakashi know he was in trouble.

“Sure, let’s see.”

“I couldn’t help noticing that you can’t, and it’s shame for you, it doesn’t affect me as much, but you can’t squeeze the toothpaste from where you have to!” Iruka exclaimed and Kakashi immediately started to laugh so hard he couldn’t reply, so Iruka just continued, laughing a little as well. “No, I mean, it’s incredible, you really have a problem there. You are a brilliant person, _brilliant_ , and you have so much potential but you brain freezes when you squeeze the toothpaste!”

Kakashi laughed a little more and, when he could finally stop, he said, “okay, fine, you’re right. But tell me something, how fucking much can you save by throwing the toothpaste away five days later?”

“But that isn’t the point! I mean…”

“No, no, it was a rhetorical question, I don’t want an answer,” Kakashi interrupted, “okay, I have another one!”

“Oh, God, I was wrong to play along with this,” the younger man sighed and they both laughed to that.

“Nah, don’t worry. It’s just that you were in the kitchen for two minutes and it’s already a mess!”

Iruka looked at the kitchen counter before trying to defend himself, but he immediately knew Kakashi would win that one. “A mess? It’s just a little dirty!”

“You do the same thing when you eat ice cream. Which, by the way, you don’t know how to eat ice cream,” Kakashi mocked him lightly.

“Come on, you were the one who stained the loveseat eating pasta, you are messy too,” Iruka replied laughing.

“That was like… more than a year ago, it doesn’t count!” the silver aired complained.

“Okay, let’s talk about this weekend. You left the plate where we ate the cake this afternoon under the bed!”

“What?! No, wait a second, it was empty!”

“Yeah, but there were some crumbs! Under the bed, like neon lights welcoming cockroaches!”

“Agh, I can’t believe you brought cockroaches into this! Bold, Iruka,” Kakashi said with a grimace of disgust on his face.

“I had to take it to the kitchen because you were already sleeping,” Iruka also complained but the smile never left his face.

“Of course I was sleeping! If you fall asleep first, then I can’t sleep because you snore, Iru-”

“Oh, no, I won’t allow this,” the brown haired laughed.

“No, please allow me, because it is intense, I swear,” Kakashi requested.

“No way… Speaking of sleeping, explain to me why every time I try to cuddle at night you turn over and leave me hugging the pillow,” Iruka changed the subject.

“Wait, you do realize that that isn’t a conscious decision, right? You can’t judge me for that.”

“But the second I hug you, you face away!”

“But who the fuck sleeps cuddling, Iruka? It’s impossible! No couple sleeps cuddling; you cuddle before sleeping for like a second as a love gesture and then, by mutual agreement, you say good night,” Kakashi explained his point.

“Love gesture?” Iruka asked, a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Exactly.”

“Mhm,” Iruka sang.

“And then, each turn to their side,” Kakashi continued.

“Okay, let’s say that all of this is negotiable. What I really don’t get is why we can’t make love with the lights on,” Iruka changed the subject.

“Why not? What are you saying? The bathroom lights are always on! I mean, what do you want? Have sex on the Hard Rock Stadium on a Superbowl Sunday?” Kakashi complained with an enormous smile plastered on his face.

Iruka let out a burst of laughter he couldn’t quite control. “I want light!”

“But what are you now? Doctor light? What do you want? Should I buy a generator for intimacy?” Kakashi laughed too.

“Yeees! I want a generator for sex and for you to not be obsessed with the curtains! It doesn’t matter if they aren’t fully closed!” Iruka said without stop laughing.

“Wait, I don’t think the curtains thing is a minor detail. What if they are looking at us from the outside?” the older man questioned.

“Who would be looking at us?” Iruka asked, still amused.

“Who? I don’t know, people! People watch.”

“People? You are saying that a family is watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show and then they say ‘okay, let’s turn the tv off because the neighbors in front of us are going to have sex’?” the brown haired mocked him.

“Okay, no, that’s fucked up. But still, people watch, Iruka.”

“You watch! I am sure you look at other houses and think everyone is doing it.”

“Well, and what about it? You aren’t going to say that… um, you wouldn’t be tempted to watch… if there’s someone out there fucking,” Kakashi tried to put into words what he was thinking.

“Oh, so now that we understand each other, I can move on. I mean, I enjoy more listening than watching, but I can move on and talk about fantasies…”

“Ah, fuck," Kakashi sighed, "sure, whatever, what do you want to talk about?”

Iruka smirked smugly. “Do you remember that conversation we had about a threesome?”

Kakashi sighed. He did remember the conversation. Conversations, actually. Iruka would bring up the subject and Kakashi would say that he wouldn’t be in a threesome with him. Then, Iruka would ask why not if they love having sex with each other, to what Kakashi would answer that it’d hurt too much to see him in bed with someone who wasn’t him. They would leave the conversation for a few months until it surfaced again. Like right now.

“Iruka, I don’t get it. Are we going to do in one weekend everything we didn’t do in three years of relationship? While you chop onions?”

Iruka laughed again. “No, of course not.”

“I mean, if you want to, let’s do it.”

“No, love, let’s take it slow,” the brown haired replied smiling as he shook his head.

“Um… I have to formally ask you, since it’s already getting dark. Can I stay tonight?”

“One more?”

“It’d be the third,” Kakashi nodded.

“Look at you, so good with numbers,” Iruka mocked him.

“How come I am the mean one?”

Iruka laughed. “Of course you can stay. I’d love to end the long weekend like this.”

“Thank you very much ~” Kakashi sang.

“My pleasure.”

“And seriously, ask me for anything. Ask me out to wherever you want to go… um, just so I can show you that I am open to it, and that that thing about me not wanting to make plans is not true anymore… Ask me,” Kakashi requested.

Iruka stopped chopping the onions and looked at him in the eye. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“I know exactly what I want,” he said, his brown eyes shining with excitement and a huge smile on his face.

“So quickly?” Kakashi chuckled.

“Yes.”

“Fine, what is it?”

“I want to go dancing,” the brown haired replied. 

“What? Really? To a club?” Kakashi asked, a single silver eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, I asked you a thousand times. Dancing, really, in a club. Like we haven’t done in years, like I don’t know if we ever did.”

“Okey, sure, let’s go dancing,” the older man agreed. He then got closer and grabbed Iruka by the waist.

“Oh, God, I am already dying from excitement!” the brown haired exclaimed in the other’s arms. Kakashi kissed him in response. “Are you going to help me cook now?”

“Of course I am. For you, for me, and for the sake of this kitchen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, dancing! I love next chapter, and I hope you are excited for it!


	5. Marital status?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!! **Quick disclaimer** , I am from Argentina, and the nightlife here is quite… wild? I mean, it’s normal for me but I understand why people say we party hard. Dinner rarely starts before nine and we always drink before going to a club. Clubs usually open around 1.00 a.m and close at 5.30 a.m, some even stay open until 6.30. We usually have breakfast right after since cafes open at 7.00am. Also, theatres and cinemas have late night shows and movies on the weekends (and yes, everything is closeby). So yeah, those are the biggest differences (I think) and I mention them because, since I don’t know much about partying in other countries, that’s the context in which Kakashi and Iruka are going out this chapter.
> 
> Okay, I think that’s everything that has to be said. Enjoy the chapter!

“Come on, get a bit closer!” Iruka yelled over the loud music.

“I can’t hear anything!” Kakashi yelled back.

“Dace with me!”

The club was full, the music was loud and the lights danced above them, dying their skin beautiful colors. They danced to a heavy beat, bumping against each other; one of Kakashi’s hands was on Iruka’s hips, whose arms were loosely around the older man’s neck. 

“Do you know if I can smoke here?” Kakashi asked Iruka, who frowned slightly and pouted a bit too. Kakashi laughed as he shook his head and the brown haired was sad he could hear the sound of that over the music.

“I can entertain your mouth just fine,” Iruka said at Kakashi’s ear before kissing him deeply. 

Kakashi returned the kiss with matching fervor. “What are you drinking?” he asked when they broke the kiss. Iruka just laughed. “When did you grab that?”

“I don’t know, a few minutes ago!” Iruka yelled over the music, still dancing to it, “do you want a taste?”

“No way, that drink is blue, what the fuck is it?” the silver haired replied after taking a look at the drink. Besides, he had already tasted it in Iruka and it wasn’t that tasty.

“I don’t know, try it!”

Kakashi rolled his eyes, took the glass and, holding a straw out of the way with a finger, took a generous sip. 

“Agh, it’s horrible!”

“Don’t be a sourpuss! You’ll see that it’s not that big of a deal, come on!” Iruka exclaimed as he placed a chaste kiss on Kakashi’s mouth, who looked at him with a smirk on before kissing the air out of the brown haired.

“It’s incredible how full this place is! You are so going to pay me back,” Kakashi said a few songs later. Iruka just shook his head and rolled his eyes while he smiled. Kakashi pulled him closer so he could whisper in his ear. “God, you are a great dancer, always were.”

That did win him a kiss.

“Where are you going?” the taller man asked when Iruka let him go and took a step back.

“I’m going to the bathroom!”

“Okay, meet you here.”

“What?” Iruka yelled, trying to hear Kakashi over the music.

“I’ll wait for you here!”

Iruka nodded. “Dance a little, I’ll be right back!”

# \---

“Ah, I can’t believe you’re here! I couldn’t find you anywhere!” Iruka exclaimed.

After he came out of the bathroom, he couldn’t find Kakashi anymore. The club was really full and he was a little more than tipsy, not a great combination when you wanted to find someone. After looking around for quite some time, he ended up exiting the club, where he found Kakashi having a smoke.

“Babe, I waited like fifteen minutes for you,” Kakashi replied, flicking away the almost finished cigarette.

“Shit, I got scared,” Iruka sighed, out of air.

“Me too.”

“I thought you got upset and left.”

“What? Of course not, I told you I’d wait where we were,” Kakashi replied, holding Iruka’s hand in his.

“But I went there,” the brown haired explained with a frown.

“No, ‘Ruka, you clearly didn’t, I was there the whole time.”

“I went back to the bar, babe.”

“Which one? The blue one or the green one?”

“Shit, I don’t know… Could it be a yellow one?” Iruka replied with a chuckle, and Kakashi laughed too.

“Yellow one?”

“So many bars!” Iruka exclaimed as they both laughed.

“Come on, let’s go back inside,” Kakashi suggested.

“Let’s,” Iruka agreed.

They walked over the entrance, where Kakashi spoke to the club’s bouncer, a muscular bald man.

“Excuse me, could you let us back in? We had to leave because he got confused.”

“Stamp?” the bouncer asked.

Kakashi nodded and showed him the back of his right hand, where a stamp with the club’s logo was painted. He got it before exiting the building, it was like a proof he had already payed the club ticket so they could let him in again when he wanted.

“Here’s mine,” he said and looked at Iruka, who was looking at him, “come on, show him yours.”

“Show him what?” Iruka asked, frowning.

“The stamp.”

“What stamp?”

Kakashi took a look at Iruka, who was standing behind him looking at nowhere in particular. He quickly arrived at the conclusion that maybe he was drunker than he appeared. “No, babe, come on, don’t tell me you left without the stamp. You had to get it to enter again!”

“What is this? Middle school?”

“Without the stamp, you can’t go back in,” the bouncer said.

“Oh, God, I’m sure you were a bully in school and now believe you are the shit,” Iruka mumbled, with his eyes shining with mischief.

“What?”

“No, nothing. Excuse us, my boyfriend is dizzy,” Kakashi quickly intervened and grab Iruka by the wrist to drag him a few steps away.

“If that man had had a teacher like me, he wouldn’t do this to us,” Iruka said now that only the silver haired could hear him, his voice so filled with amusement Kakashi couldn’t help to smile.

“I am sure,” he agreed, “’Ru, please let’s pay another ticket and go back in, alright?”

“Did you say _‘my boyfriend’_?”

“What?” Kakashi asked. Iruka’s eyes were still full of mischief, that was now translating to his voice and would soon fall all over Kakashi.

“What I said, did you refer to me as your boyfriend?” 

“Well, I don’t know, maybe. If you prefer, I can explain all of our situation to the bouncer. Come on, let’s pay another ticket and go back inside, does that sound alright?” 

“No, now the boyfriend wants to do something else, forget this place,” the brown haired replied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I don’t know, we coul- oh! Do you remember that time we went to that little theater to see a friend of mine from high school act?” Iruka asked.

“Yes, yes, regrettably so, I’ll always remember that show…”

“Don’t be mean!”

“It was terrible, ‘Ru,” Kakashi insisted.

“Yeah, it was,” Iruka agreed trying not to laugh, “but wait, that theater is a block from here. We could check if there is something we can see.”

“Um, yeah, sure. But what? Do you have a map on your head that you remember exactly where it is?”

“I have a good sense of direction,” the younger man shrugged. “Well, except when it comes down to the blue bar or the green bar,” he laughed at himself a second later when they began walking down the street, holding hands.

“Or the nonexistent yellow one,” Kakashi joked.

“I don’t know what shows are on the theatre,” Iruka warned him, “let’s see what’s programmed.”

“Sure. Hey, did I tell you the story of how I got lost at a nightclub in Mexico?”

“And you had to return to the hotel by foot because the guys thought you had already left,” Iruka completed.

“Yeah, that one, I won’t tell you again, then,” Kakashi laughed. “Can we talk about the amazing thing that happens to you when you dance, then?”

“What thing?”

“I don’t know, it’s like you travel to another planet with your head, you close your eyes, you enjoy the music…”

“Awww,” Iruka crooned.

“Truthfully, I think I barely dance because all I can do is look at you. I like that more than everything else,” the silver haired confessed.

“Shit, I am embarrassed now.”

“I know, I am sorry… You know what? The same thing happens sometimes when we’re having sex-”

“If I was embarrassed before, now I want to disappear from this planet!” Iruka interrupted as he laughed nervously.

“Okay, sorry!” Kakashi replied, trying to hold back his own laugh.

“We are here!” Iruka announced, thankfully relieved by the change of subjects. Outside, some people were having a smoke and inside, a bunch of people were having avid conversations; a performance was probably going to start soon.

“I think there are some brochures inside, wait a sec,” the older man said when looked at the building with glass doors. He didn’t wait for an answer and went inside. 

He came back a minute later with a brochure on hand and as soon as Iruka could reach the silver haired, he grabbed him by the waist and gave him a short kiss.

“Missed me?” Kakashi asked with the smug smile on his face that Iruka said it annoyed him but the silver haired knew he actually loved.

“So? Read it to me,” Iruka requested, ignoring his question.

“Sure. Nomads: nomads is an experience of immersive theater, one that differentiates itself from traditional theater by removing the stage and immersing audiences within the performance itself, making the public’s commitment to an active participation is essential… blah blah blah…”

“And what’s _blah blah blah_ supposed to mean?” Iruka asked, laughing a bit.

“Oh, no, it’s like… didn’t you get it? It’s like we have to act, I don’t think I’m into that,” Kakashi explained.

“Why not?”

“No, please, I’ll die of embarrassment, I am not a… participative person, you know that. I mean, I apologize to the actors but they should do the work.”

“It’s not acting what you have to do, you are just lazy,” Iruka said while laughing.

“Okay, I’ll ask about it,” Kakashi sighed and entered the theatre once again.

“I’ll be waiting here,” the brown haired replied.

Kakashi came back shaking his head. “No. I mean, no. The only seats available are at the front row. Please don’t do this to me, if we are on the first row, it’s obvious they are going to choose us to participate,” he begged.

“Okay, okay, no problem, but where do we go now?” Iruka agreed.

“I don’t know… cinema?”

“Sure, sounds good.”

“Okay, I can check from my phone the cinema listing from the shopping that’s a few blocks from here,” Kakashi suggested as he took his phone from his jacket and began doing so.

“Yeah, let’s check because it’s kinda late,” the brown haired commented.

“Yes, but it’s Saturday, there are late night-… Here it is, there are two that start in… fifteen minutes, that’s perfect.”

“It is. Which are them?” Iruka asked, watching the screen from the other side.

“Returning home: Iranian movie based in Ubi’s story, a deaf child isolated by the Saudi regime that, through his gaze, reveals… No, God, poor Ubi, everything goes wrong for him,” the silver haired recited.

“Wait, there is another one here… about superheroes,” Iruka noticed.

“Yeah, the new Spiderman… The classic hero comes back with an unprecedented mission: save Ubi, a deaf child isolated by the Saudi regime,” Kakashi began to recite but was interrupted by Iruka’s laughter.

“You are an idiot, you are kidding me!” the brown haired said in between laughs.

“It wouldn’t be a bad crossover, honestly. I don’t know, it’s Spiderman, the new one,” Kakashi said.

“Wait, think about what movie you want to see and, at the count of three, we say it out loud, okay?” Iruka proposed.

“Okay.”

“One… two… and three!”

“Spiderman!”

“Iranian!”

“Nooo!” Iruka exclaimed while they both laughed.

“Oh, no. With all due respect to Ubi, I don’t think I can watch that movie at this hour of the night. Besides, the movie lasts… two hours forty; we would leave the cinema at three in the morning, babe,” Kakashi said.

“No, yeah, it’s late. It’s a movie for another time, you’re right,” Iruka agreed.

“So? Spiderman then?”

“Spiderman it is,” Iruka replied and they began walking towards the cinema, which was only four blocks away.

“Let’s see… I’ll buy it with the credit card, we can add popcorn and whatnot…” Kakashi said, palming his jacket, and then his pants, looking for his wallet. “ _Shit._ ”

“What?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” the silver haired replied and stopped walking, looking into his pockets now more nervously and frowning.

“What is it, ‘Kashi?” Iruka asked again, now with a concern look accompanying his words.

“I can’t find my wallet.”

“Oh, no,” the brown haired gasped and palmed his pockets too.

“Didn’t I give it to you?”

“No, I’m checking but I don’t have it,” he replied.

“Fuck, I really am an idiot, I lost my wallet!” Kakashi cursed as he rubbed the nape of his neck.

“What did you have in it?”

“Everything! Identification, cards, driver’s license… Damn, the keys of my apartment! I took only the two I needed and put them on the pocket my wallet had…” 

“Oh, well, you don’t have to worry about that,” Iruka said, referring to the keys.

“I can’t believe this! And now we can’t go to the movies,” Kakashi lamented.

“No, of course not. You have to report you lost it because of the cards, the id…”

“You are right,” the older man realized, someone could use his credit or debit cards. Even drunk, Iruka was better grounded than he could ever be. “This sucks, I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t worry about it. The police station was right in front of the theatre, we can go there,” the brown haired said.

“Yeah, we should,” Kakashi nodded and they started walking again.

# \---

“Name?” the police officer asked.

“Kakashi Hatake,” the silver haired on the other side of the counter replied and the officer started to fill the form.

“Occupation?”

“Analyst.”

“Psychologist?”

“No, no, systems analyst,” Kakashi answered with an awkward laugh that Iruka, who was standing next to him, shared.

“Address?” the officer continued.

Right when Kakashi was about to reply, Iruka beat him to it. “Well, it’s complicated because this weekend we were in my house without going out…”

“No, no! Shut up, ‘Ru,” Kakashi quickly interrupted before Iruka’s drunk thoughts surfaced completely, “243 Gardenbrook Street, first floor, apartment B.”

“Marital status?”

“Umm…” Kakashi hesitated.

“You have to say single!” the brown haired leaning on his arm exclaimed.

“Uh, yeah, single, sorry,” he said to the officer, “I don’t know, I mean, boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” the man in front of him asked, looking up from the papers he was filling with a single eyebrow raised.

Once again, Kakashi’s mouth was open and ready to answer when Iruka beat him to it.

“Yes, officer, it’s official: we are boyfriends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's why _boyfriend_ isn't a marital status.


	6. Aren’t we okay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of weeks later, Kakashi and Iruka discuss about living together.

“Here,” Iruka said extending his hand to give Kakashi his cup of tea. The silver haired grabbed it and lifted the blanket he was under, so Iruka could lay besides him on the bed.

“Shall we watch this chapter then?” Kakashi asked as he took the remote control.

But Iruka didn’t move, he stood there with his own cup of tea between his hand. “Yes, but wait. I am going to get something, wait here,” he replied as he left his mug on the bedside table.

“Um, okay, I’ll turn the tv on in the meantime,” Kakashi said but Iruka was already gone. 

A few seconds later, Iruka was back with a small blue box in his hand.

“This… is for you,” he said, gifting the box to the silver haired, who sat straight on the bed.

“What? What is this?” Kakashi asked as he took it.

“A little thing.”

“A gift?”

“Just open it!” Iruka exclaimed, jumping on the bed next to him.

Kakashi did as told, and found that inside the blue box there were a set of keys. A set of keys he already knew.

“Oh,” he gasped.

“Your keys! Again,” Iruka said, excited and with a blinding smile on his face.

“The keys… of this house?” Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer.

Those were the keys to the house they were in, the keys that were his for over a year when he lived there. With Iruka. The house they both rented together when Kakashi moved in. The house he had to leave not that long ago, with the doorbell he had to rang to get into it now.

“Yes.”

“I, um- Thank you. I mean, what… what is this supposed to mean? What is this for?” the silver haired asked, hesitantly choosing his words.

“Well, you are coming here a lot…”

“Mhm,” Kakashi prompted.

“And it’s more comfortable, is it not?” Iruka asked.

“No, yes, of course. It is more comfortable. Every time I ring the bell, you have to stop whatever you are doing.”

“That’s what I am saying. Did you like it?” Iruka asked, realizing then that Kakashi’s expression was pretty blank.

“Yes, of course I like it. It just… surprised me but if course I like it. Thank you,” the silver haired replied, putting on a smile that Iruka could notice it was a bit forced.

“What?” Iruka inquired, but Kakashi was still looking at the keys. “Look at me… I can almost hear you thinking.”

“Well, yes, I don’t know. It’s like… these last few days I am here almost all of the time… We are good, right?”

“Right.”

“And this… this is organic, you know? Everything feels natural,” Kakashi further explained.

“I understand, it’s completely like that,” the brown haired nodded.

“Well, then I am asking myself… from this, I mean…. Are you trying to say something else? Like ‘hey, let’s live together again’? Is this a way or…?” Kakashi rambled until he was interrupted by Iruka’s laugh. “Hey, don’t laugh! I am seriously asking, you can answer whatever you want, it’s alright.”

Iruka changed from a laugh to a soft smile. “Um, yes… I am thinking the same thing as you are. I am always thinking, I don’t know… I think that’s it’s good that we are taking things slow, that we are relaxed but well, I also think it is… unnatural to open the door for you. It’s weird, I don’t know.” 

“No, I know… Yes, it’s unnatural, as you say. Not living together is unnatural. I don’t know, I am just thinking out loud… It’s like I feel two opposite forces, you know? Like we are getting along so well and… what?” Kakashi stopped talking due to Iruka’s frowning expression.

“Well, yes but… But I still think this house is mine _and_ yours. But, at the same time, now I have another arrangement with the owner, I changed things up a little… things are different now,” Iruka explained.

“Well, good. I mean, I’ll just take advantage of the moment and say this now that you mentioned the thing with the owner. I just think that, even if you didn’t give me the keys, it’s not about that… I think that I am spending a lot of time here, Iruka. It seems to me that… you have to let me pay half the rent. Which is something I already told you and you didn't-”

“No, stop. That just feels like a lot, it’s not appropriate,” Iruka interrupted him.

“But yes, babe, how come it’s not appropriate? I am here almost all of the time,” Kakashi replied. “Regardless of whether I stay here a lot and am here when you are not… I mean, I don’t feel comfortable not paying half of the rent, you know? It’s weird to me. I mean, you pay for everything and sure, I handle the food, delivery, maybe some ice cream and a few other little things but… I don’t know, I can’t feel this house as my place if I can’t do more. Do you get what I am trying to say? I mean, I understand that it’s uncomfortable to talk about it but I really, _really_ want us to live together again. And not because I am tired of coming and going or-”

“No, I understand, it’s cool. Living together is a possibility but I also think that, maybe, this being a new chapter… I don’t know, maybe it’s more about going to look for something else to, well… I am also thinking out loud,” the brown haired intervened.

“Ah, you mean like moving to a new place together?”

“Yes. I don’t know, maybe it’s not here. Maybe I have to finish the contract here-”

“Yes, but wait, the contract ends in four months, Iruka. I mean, what you are saying isn’t wrong but-”

“Mhm, but it’s my contract. I should pay what’s left,” Iruka clarified, “and then we can start, little by little, thinking about what’s next.”

“But.. why? Don’t you like this house?”

“Yes, of course I like it, I chose it. The thing is that it was good that you came, at the time, to live here but a lesson, it seems to me, from all this is that it isn’t the same to build a space between the two- or, in any case, undo it and solve who is going to stay in that space- than you coming to live at _my_ house and having to leave _my_ house. It’s different, I don’t know…” the younger man tried to explain himself.

“Well, yes, when you put it like that…” Kakashi replied.

“I guess you felt the same way,” Iruka suggested.

“Yes, of course, I get what you are trying to say. Maybe we should rent something else, somewhere else, together… from the first time and sharing all the decisions,” Kakashi said. It was true, that house had history, and since the moment they broke up, it belonged to Iruka and Iruka alone. As it has before, making Kakashi just a part of that history, a temporary habitant. Both of them thought Kakashi was more than something temporary.

“And, on the other hand, I think… We are not going to do this just for this, but…”

“What?” the silver haired prompted.

“There are so many bills we are both paying and could avoid. I mean, you pay for water, electricity, gas, cable… and I am doing the same thing here. We both pay streaming services, we both pay-”

“No, I get it, it’s true,” Kakashi interrupted.

“I am not saying that we should move in together just to save, but it’s a consideration. We are kind of wasting money,” Iruka said.

“Yes, I agree. I mean, you said it, I don’t think we should live together just because of something economic, I wouldn’t be an ideal motive. But I would love to try and look for something different, together,” the gray haired proposed.

Iruka smiled. “Just like I said that, I’m also saying that I don’t think it’s bad what we are doing now.”

“Mhm,” Kakashi agreed.

“It’s like a game. I mean it in the best of ways, about we finding each other, choosing the plan every time, deciding if we sleep together or not… There is something romantic in all of that. I don’t really dislike the idea of separate homes,” Iruka said.

“But… wait, are you kidding me, Iruka?” Kakashi asked softly and the other man laughed. “You just gave the keys of the house!” 

“No, no, I know,” Iruka said, still laughing a little, “and I love that. But what I am saying is that yes, of course, I gave you the keys of _my_ house.”

“Yes, I… you are really confusing me right now.”

“Okay, don’t you think about this? Don’t you feel that it’s a bit great how we are living right now? Or it’s just a feeling of mine, you are having a terrible time, need to speed things up…?”

“No! I don’t need to speed anything up. It’s great, of course. But then why are you gifting me these keys? Just so you don’t have to open the door?” Kakashi asked.

“No, I am not gifting them, I’m lending them,” Iruka said laughing. “It’s the time for this. I mean, it’s a moment we are living and it should last al long as it has to, or until it becomes unbearable. Or not? Or has it already become unbearable?”

“No, not at all. Besides, I don’t know, there are only four months of contract left. There is time to think about this, it’s fine…” Kakashi rambled, “no, it’s more than fine. I think we can continue like this, I think it’s good to give us the freedom… without getting upset or anything, I mean, it’s good to be able to tell the other, I don’t know, _‘I’m going out with friends tonight,’_ or _‘I’ll eat somewhere else, I’ll be back later’_ … or _‘I won’t come back’_ … And, if anything, we can figure things out as we go.”

Iruka nodded with a smile. “I feel that something is happening to us, even if we don’t notice and are seeing each other a lot… I don’t know, it has to do with the fact that there are days we miss each other, there are days we are together, even if we are together a lot because lately you’ve been here almost every day… I mean, aren’t we okay? Aren’t we more than okay?”

“Yes, of course,” Kakashi said, grabbing on of Iruka’s hands, “we are more than okay. It’s like we aren’t taking thing for granted. We are seeing each other a lot, but because we want to, not because we have to.”

“Right, we don’t have to live together.”

“We don’t _have to_ do anything,” Kakashi nodded.

“We don’t _have to_ do anything,” Iruka repeated, and leaned in for a kiss that sealed the agreement. “Now, how about we watch that chapter?”


	7. Do we still have it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka makes a decision that puts his relationship with Kakashi in jeopardy.

“And that caused a blackout in two hole floors! I swear she is crazy, I don’t know how they haven’t fired her yet,” Kakashi finished his story while having a glass of wine. 

It had been a rough day at work, so Iruka offered to cook as the silver haired told him about his day. But Iruka’s eyes were somewhere else, Kakashi could notice he wasn’t paying attention; and his mind was even farther away.

“Earth to Iruka,” Kakashi called.

“What? Sorry, I wasn’t listening,” the teacher apologized.

“What is it?”

“What is what?”

“The thing on your mind, what is it?” Kakashi clarified.

Iruka’s gaze returned to the stove. “Nothing… Wait, a blackout? What the hell did she do this time?”

“Apparently, she didn’t maintain her equipment and everything failed at the same time. I mean, it can happen but it’s her job to take care of that stuff… my guess is that she spilled water somewhere and… Iruka, hey,” the silver haired interrupted himself since his boyfriend was drifting away again.

“I am so sorry-” Iruka began as he turned around to face Kakashi.

“You can talk to me, you know?”

“No, I know. I just wanted to eat first. I was supposed to cook while you tell me stories and make me laugh, and then we would eat and kept laughing and…”

“Wow, okay, you are worrying me now, is everything okay?” Kakashi asked, standing up to get close to Iruka and grab his hands.

“Everything is great, actually,” Iruka smiled. And it was a real smile, Kakashi could notice by the way his brown eyes wrinkled but there was still a hint of… something else. “It’s so great it isn’t.”

“Okay, no. We aren’t going to do this thing where you get all mystical and I try to figure out what’s going on. Words, please?” Kakashi asked.

Iruka sighed and nodded. He then let go of Kakashi’s hands and turned off the stove. “Okay… words. That school I love offered me the job I’ve always wanted.”

Kakashi looked at Iruka. At his eyes. His conflicted ayes. And he didn’t understand.

“Iruka, babe, that’s awesome!” he said grinning and went in for a hug Iruka returned vaguely.

“It is awesome, I’ve been wanting this for a long time but I never thought it would actually happen,” the brunet replied when the embrace was over.

“I know! Why am I the only one who is excited here? This is amazing news!”

“Umm… It’s the job by the beach. A little over three hundred miles away,” Iruka explained.

Kakashi felt his previously light chest plummet against the floor. Right, he had forgotten about that fact. Iruka’s dream job was far away from where they currently lived, in the coastal city where his beach house was. Three hundred and twenty three miles away.

“I know,” the silver haired repeated, this time in a lower tone. “But it’s still great news, I am happy for you.”

Iruka smiled blandly. “Thank you. I thought… I mean, aren’t you mad?”

“You already took the job,” Kakashi realized.

“I, um… yes,” Iruka sighed lightly.

The silver haired nodded slowly and backed off Iruka’s personal space to sit back on his chair and have some wine.

“Please talk to me, there has to be something you want to say about this,” the teacher pleaded after what felt like an eternity.

“What do you want me to say?”

“The truth, Kakashi, of course. What kind of question is that?”

“I don’t know! I mean… what the hell, Iruka?” Kakashi sighed, running his hand over his hair.

“I wasn’t going to turn this down if that’s what you expected. This is everything I’ve been working for, how could I refuse?” Iruka replied with a frown appearing in his face.

“I never said you should turn the offer down; I am happy about this, I told you that. But… I mean, you didn’t talk to me about it. Am I wrong here? Am I assuming we are somewhere we are not yet? Because I thought we were serious, I feel like we are but…”

“We are serious, of course we are. Even if I told you before accepting, I would have said yes.”

“Then what are we discussing?” Kakashi asked with a resigned tone.

“I mean… three hundred miles isn’t nothing, what are we going to do about this?” Iruka replied with another question.

“Iruka, I… I can’t do long distance, we are way too old for that. We’ve talked about this years ago, remember? We agreed we would never do that… And I still don’t want to but I don’t want to break up either…”

“But it has been a long time since we discussed long distance. It was in another whole relationship before we broke up… I mean, we are changed, aren’t we?” Iruka questioned.

“We are changed, of course, but this… Long distance is still a no. I can’t not see you, Iruka, that’s still the same as before,” Kakashi replied.

“It’s not that far, if you think about it…”

“A four hour ride and another back is that far for me. We could only see each other on the weekends if nothing else came up. Does that sound good to you?”

“Of course it doesn’t, babe. But I don’t want to break up either, so that’s the only solution I can think about,” Iruka said.

Kakashi sighed. “Then why…? _Fuck_ , Iruka. I… we had it. The honest conversations, the laughing, the sex, the love…”

“We still have it. You are talking like we have already broke up. I am here, you are here, there has to be something we can do,” Iruka interrupted.

“Do we still have it? Because, if I remember well, three weeks ago we were talking about moving in together in a few months. We said we wanted to go slow because we could, we had the time. A year and a half before that we were talking about a kid together. A kid, Iruka, do you understand that? And even before that we were discussing marriage…. I mean, what happened to us? Where did that time go?” Kakashi asked, looking so painfully into Iruka’s eyes, the latter one thought he couldn’t stand it for much longer.

“I don’t know,” Iruka sighed lightly and sat in the chair in front of his boyfriend avoiding his gaze, “when I went to the school during our little trip I never thought they would consider my offer, but then they called me and… I said yes before I realized what I was doing. Then everything went by fast, I arranged the premature end of the contract with the landlady and now… we are here.”

“Are you sorry?”

Iruka met those gray eyes of Kakashi’s for a moment before answering. “No, I don’t think I am. I would’ve taken the job regardless of the order of events, but… I don’t know, I feel like shit because I still want us to live together in a few months, and I still want that kid with you someday, but I know that may not be possible.”

Kakashi nodded. “I don’t know, maybe long distance is an option? I just feel like… like it will kill us slowly.”

“How will we know if we don’t try? I feel like trying, I don’t care what comes next, I just hope it’s good.”

“But… I am sorry, I am not trying to not make this work, but how can it be good? Okay, no, wait, that came out wrong,” Kakashi sighed and took a breath in to put his ideas in order. “I can see three endings. One, you break us up again here and now-”

“ _I_ would be the one breaking us up? How could _I_ break us up if you are the one who doesn’t want to try this time?” Iruka interrupted, his tone a little louder.

“Because you are the one leaving, Iruka! I haven’t decided any of this. I know you are spontaneous and I love you for that, but this time… you should’ve at least told me!”

“It would’ve been the same! In no dimension would I have said no! If I had told you, you’d have tried to talk me out of it,” the brown haired accused.

“What? Do you really think that? Of course I wouldn’t, Iruka! I love you, I want you to get your dream job. But this isn’t as simple as that, I would have preferred… I don’t know, a heads up? But instead, all I hear you say is that you are done with this house and this town and are leaving in…” Kakashi trailed off because he realized he didn’t actually know when his boyfriend was leaving.

“A week,” Iruka completed. 

“A week,” the older man repeated, as if to make it more real than it felt.

The teacher closed his eyes for a second, as he let out a breath. “Number two?” he then asked.

“What?” Kakashi asked, frowning in confusion.

“You said you could see three endings. Number one: I break us up again tonight. Number two?”

The silver haired took a deep breath. “Number two, we actually try long distance but of course it doesn’t work because then your life would be there and mine, here… Which leads to number three, where long distance leads to me leaving my life here to join yours.”

“So… no scenario works, then?”

“Number three kind of does,” Kakashi shrugged.

“We both know it wouldn’t. Why do you think I haven’t asked you to come with me?”

“I can think about a thing or two…”

“Like?” Iruka prompted.

“You don’t want me to go with you, or you know it’s not the time since you just dropped a bomb on my lap, and asking me to look for another job and say goodbye to my friends is another bomb,” the silver haired thought out loud.

Iruka let out a small laugh. “It is, isn’t it? I know you love your job, and the guys are here… I can’t ask you to leave them for me.”

“Yeah, no, I know. And I also want to live with you and have that kid. So? What’s next?”

“I don’t know. Maybe there’s a forth ending you can’t see. Maybe long distance works, maybe we sort this out… If our experience together has taught us something is that we aren’t great apart.”

Kakashi smiled at him, and Iruka felt the knot around his throat loosen a bit, even if what the silver haired said next didn’t match the kindness in his face. “This sucks, and I am really mad.”

“Would you stop being mad someday?”

“I love you, I can’t stay mad for too long,” Kakashi replied, letting his smile grow bigger.

Iruka shook his head, trying to suppress a smile of his own. “You are corny, did you know that?”

“You asked.”

“And I am glad,” Iruka replied, “so? Maybe long distance works?”

“It will kill us slowly~” Kakashi sang.

“Come on, you don’t know that! Everything can change in a blink of an eye, we don’t know where we will be in a month, not even tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow I get hit by a car and die, or you get fired because that woman who can’t do shit frames you and said you caused the power outage-” Iruka said and had to stop due to his boyfriend’s laugh.

“Seriously? I don’t even think she’s that bright.”

Iruka laughed at that. “Okay, maybe she isn’t. But my point is that nothing is certain, there aren’t three endings, there are millions, and we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Yeah, _maybe_ everything can happen, I know, I get what you are saying. But we are talking about what we can control, and long distance sounds like a terminal illness.”

“Wow, okay… But still, isn’t a terminal illness better than sudden death? I mean… this metaphor is twisty. I rather have us try than give up now. You say I gave up last time and yeah, perhaps you are right; but are you really ready to give up this time?” Iruka asked.

“I… you are oversimplifying this. I am not ready to give up, but I wasn’t the one who put us in this position,” the silver haired replied, standing up from the table, “I will think about this, I don’t feel like I can agree to anything right now.”

“Why are you standing up? Don’t leave, you said you weren’t going to do that anymore,” the younger man said, also standing up.

“I said it wasn’t a good thing to do, but I need space. Can I get that?” Kakashi asked, his eyebrows raised over the gray eyes nailed in Iruka’s.

“Okay, but you’ll think about it, right?”

“I said I would, see you tomorrow,” the silver haired replied.

Kakashi then leaned in for a quick, chaste goodbye kiss and left.


	8. Ask me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayyyyy, for the three people reading this: I am sorry it took me this long to finally post the last chapter. I've been going through some sad shit but I wanted to finish the story, so here you go. Hope you like it!

“I don’t know what to do, honestly. It feels… right, you know? Or at least it feels like that when we are together,” Kakashi sighed over the phone as he picked up some milk from the supermarket’s fridge.

“Then why are you letting it go? You are describing love, Kakashi! Do you know how rare that is?” Gai replied from the other end of the line.

“Me? I am not letting anything go, he chose to leave. I thought we were a couple that discussed decisions like that together, but I guess I was wrong. It’s not like I have a say on where he goes, anyway,” the silver haired man replied while walking around looking for that brand of coffee Iruka liked.

“Well, you do have a say on where you go,” his friend stated.

Kakashi let out a snort that ended on a small chuckle. “You are not seriously saying I should move with him three hundred miles away from everything.”

“You want to, though.” 

Kakashi frowned at the answer and kept a second of silence until he found the coffee he was looking for and placed it in his cart.

“I don’t know! I mean… I don’t want to get sentimental or whatever, but he is it for me. Of course I want to be with him and see him happy… but-”

“Stop it with the _buts_! You should listen what comes before a _but_ , that’s where the truth is. What is wrong about following him if he makes you enjoy your life and feel young again?” Gai interrupted him. Kakashi almost rolled his eyes, he could picture his friend even if he couldn’t actually see him and was sure that the tall black haired man was on the verge of tears because of the springtime of love or something like that. 

“My life is here, Gai. My job is here, the gym I go to is here, my apartment is here… Asuma, Genma, Kurenai, you… You are all here. Should I throw everything away and just follow him?”

“Ah, I see what this call is about.”

“Yeah, is about me not knowing what to do. Keep up, Gai,” Kakashi replied as he vaguely wondered between the aisles of the supermarket looking for the checkout.

“No, it’s about you asking for approval. You can find another job as good or better than this one, go to another gym, live at your beach house… You feel guilty about leaving the guys, about leaving me because you have already made up your mind,” Gai stated, his voice softer than ever before.

Kakashi sighed. “What? No. Maybe? I don’t know… Leaving everything for someone isn’t what I pictured for my life… I don’t know what to do.”

“Okay, I’ll say what you called to hear: you can leave. You can leave, I will be okay. We can see each other on the weekends, we won’t stop being friends if that’s what you are worried about. Besides, you living in another city opens up a whole new category of challenges, my dear rival!” Gai exclaimed. “And maybe this isn’t what you planned for your future, but what matters most? An idea of yourself or Iruka?”

Kakashi let out a long breath. “Okay… okay. Thanks, Gai.”

# \---

“Kakashi! You are home,” Iruka welcomed him after the silver haired entered the house with three bags filled with groceries.

“I said I would return today, didn’t I?” Kakashi replied as he laid the bags on the dinner table.

“No, yeah, but…”

“But you doubted me?”

Iruka took in a deep breath and looked down. “No, of course not. But after what I did and say yesterday… I am really sorry.”

“About which part exactly?”

“I should’ve talk to you before accepting the job. Even if it didn’t change my mind, I owed you that courtesy. And… yeah, I handled it the worst way possible, and definitely oversimplified it, as you said,” Iruka replied and got a little closer. 

Before continuing, he reached for one of Kakashi’s hand and held it close to his heart. “I was selfish, I know that. And I am sorry for making you feel like you aren’t a big part of my life, because you are. I just… I am sorry.”

Kakashi nodded slowly, and gently got his hand back from Iruka’s grasp. “If I am a big part of your life, then why didn’t you… I mean, you never even asked me to go with you.”

“I told you I couldn’t. Your friends are here, your job is here-”

“But you still could have. Why didn’t you?” his boyfriend cut him.

“You’d end up hating me for making you leave everything, and yourself for letting me drag you away. I can’t do that to you… I mean, you are doing well at your job, and could you honestly leave Gai?” Iruka smiled sheepishly.

“I wouldn’t hate you, okay? I accept your apology. Ask me.”

“What?”

“Ask me. Ask me to go with you.” Kakashi repeated.

“Are you serious?”

The older man sighed and grabbed Iruka’s hands this time. “What I am is mad. And ready to forgive you and stop being mad. And okay with resigning from the job I have. And not worried about Gai. I am dead serious, Iruka.”

“Okay, okay. Fine, whatever,” Iruka mumbled. He then took a deep breath. “Kakashi Hatake, would you follow me to the beach so I can work at that amazing school?”

Kakashi leaned in and kissed his beautiful, spontaneous, pain in the ass boyfriend.

“I would follow you everywhere.”

The brown haired man let out a small laugh. “You really are the cheesiest man to ever live.”

“Shut up, you love it when I say stuff like that. Besides, I am not cheesy, I am honest,” Kakashi smiled and, before he could add anything else, Iruka kissed him again.

“You really are moving three hundred miles away to be with me?”

“With one condition.”

“Oh, now we have conditions,” Iruka teased him with a smile, “please, do tell.”

“We live together, under the same roof,” Kakashi began.

“Mhm, I can live with that.”

“I wasn’t finished,” Kakashi said after erasing that stupid smile on Iruka’s face with a quick kiss. “We live together, at my house on the beach. That will be also yours, of course.”

Iruka’s left eyebrow twitched slightly. “What? I mean, that house was you parent’s, are you sure about this?”

“You loved that house. Are you afraid of the commitment?” Kakashi was the one to tease this time, with raised eyebrows and a challenging smile. “Is Iruka Umino chickening out?”

“I am not… shut up! Fine, I’ll live in that gorgeous, big house with you. What a pain,” Iruka joked.

“I am glad,” the silver haired replied and sealed the deal with a kiss. “Our neighbor will be truly excited,” he commented after.

“Oh, the one that takes care of the house? I saw him like, once and I noticed that he was happy to see you.”

Kakashi laid down a peck on Iruka’s forehead. “Jealous?” he smiled.

Iruka rolled his eyes. “No, idiot. I mean that he was happy to… I don’t know, see you with me? To see you happy, I guess.”

“I am happy when I am with you.”

“Oh my God, now you are being cheesy just to annoy me,” Iruka complained.

“I am not going to confirm or deny that statement,” Kakashi smiled.

“What was his name? We should invite him over to have dinner and get to know our neighbor better.”

Kakashi let out a small laugh. “I should’ve figured you’d start making plans the minute we agreed to live together.”

“He is going to be part of our lives now! We need a friend over there, we can start with him,” Iruka defended himself.

“Yeah, he is already a friend. I call him Tenzō.”


End file.
